News2023: Plateau Transparency Group Accuses Lalong Of Contract Scam

2023: Plateau Transparency Group Accuses Lalong Of Contract Scam

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February 06, (THEWILL) – The Plateau Transparency and Accountability Initiative (PLATIA), a non-partisan and apolitical assemblage of professionals and patriots, has accused the State Governor, Simon Lalong, of inflating the cost of the ongoing British-America overhead bridge project for the purpose of funding the State APC Gubernatorial election.

In a Press Conference by its Chairman, Simon Dung, the PLATAI claims that it has uncovered plans by the Lalong administration to review the cost of the contract upward in response to the inflation in the country and new projection of the cost of the election, especially as it has become obvious that the contractor will not be able to deliver the project as earlier specified.

PLATAI said, “we feel duty bound to rise to the occasion and demand for quality delivery of public infrastructures and other social services to the good people of Plateau State, especially on this eve of a political transition from one political regime to the other.”

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It recalled that against all odds and public outcry, “the Simon Lalong administration initiated and launched the construction of an overhead bridge at the British-America Junction area that interfaces the Bauchi Bye Pass with Murtala Mohammed Way and Bauchi Road, and the Terminus area of Jos metropolis” about a year ago, amidst fears that the project will not be completed before May 29, 2023.

According to the good governance and accountability group, “at the ceremony to commence the barely one-kilometre stretch of road from Lamingo junction to the British-America interface, the project value was put at eight billion naira, to be executed and delivered over a twelve-month duration, with funding (loan) being guaranteed by the Access Bank, which agreed to a 100 percent mobilisation of the contractor to deliver on specifics, details, and duration of the project as designed and planned.”

As at Press time, the Body noted, “for a project that the Lalong administration, against loud and popular outcry that the timing was waspish and the motive politically convoluted, is being valued at a whopping Eighteen billion naira, as part of the bourgeoning debt profile incurred by the same Simon Lalong government as part of legacies to bequeath to the State and its future generations”.

Accordingly, PLATAI expresses concern about “the increasing cost of this project, the willingness of the funding Bank to pay upfront 100 percent mobilisation to the contractor, and the terms of repayment of the loan, which veritably puts other development programs by the State on hold long after this administration will have wound up by May 29, 2023.

“As it is, we have it on good authority that as hurried as work on the project has proceeded, with fears of dire negative implications for industry standards and best practices, the deadline for completing and delivering the project has become unrealistic, with consequential implications for cost and prospect of upward cost variation.

“We are even more concerned that the Lalong administration has never for once debunked claims or allegations that the project is over-invoiced at a whopping eighteen billion naira to accommodate the cost of 2023 electioneering for the APC gubernatorial and other elections, including his own Plateau South Senatorial election, with another variation and extension of time being considered not so much for the interest of quality and service to the people, but as a conduit to safeguard the source of funding the APC campaigns mobilisationtion for election day shenanigans in a matter of weeks,” the group observed.

Thus, it said, “we hereby say NO to the growing debt profile of the state under this administration, because ‘enough is enough’ to the callousness of mortgaging the future of our state and unborn generations.”

PLATAI, therefore, urged “the people of Plateau to rise in unison and reject any proposals for loans, contract reviews, and all forms of last-minute desperation to wreck our patrimony in the guise of service delivery and project completion.

“We are aware of the spread of uncompleted projects across the State as testimonies of miscarried legacies. We are also not unaware that these uncompleted projects have severe implications for the state in terms of lost revenues and accumulated debts,” the statement added.

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